A supersymmetric solution to the KARMEN time anomaly

TL;DR

This paper proposes a supersymmetric particle explanation for the KARMEN time anomaly, suggesting a light neutralino with specific properties that fit experimental data and outlining future tests.

Contribution

It introduces a novel supersymmetric solution involving a light neutralino to explain the KARMEN anomaly, considering independent gaugino masses and decay mechanisms.

Findings

Identifies parameter space where a 33.9 MeV neutralino explains the anomaly.

Shows consistency with existing experimental constraints.

Suggests future experimental tests to validate the hypothesis.

Abstract

We interpret the KARMEN time anomaly as being due to the production of a (dominantly bino) neutralino with mass 33.9 MeV, which is the lightest supersymmetric particle but decays into 3 leptons through the violation of R-parity. For independent gaugino masses M_1 and M_2 we find regions in the (M_1, M_2, mu, tan beta) parameter space where such a light neutralino is consistent with all experiments. Future tests of this hypothesis are outlined.